bathaway

hard to tell. Give us a picture of the label on the candle 

I actually made a video on this topic. consignments 

I rent retail space before. Wasn't a good experience. I didn't have any control. Where in the store, how it was displayed. My bath bombs got destroyed in-front of the window in the sunlight. There are so many things that affect my sales. I had no control yet I still paid for the space for 8 weeks. They didn't tell me any of these changes. I had to visit the store myself to see whats going on.

Be clear before you rent space.

thanks so much. I think mine are too slow.

I think starting off, with 0 or little following, 100% refund if not satisfied, can build trust and credibility. 

Your probably not going to get an abuser early on. Maybe later you can not give refunds or track repeat refunders to cut them off.

oops. yes 1/4cup slsa

I purposely used alcohol instead of water to prevent fizzing when mixing.

I currently put 170lbs of force on my bath bombs when packing lol. I have to test that too.

That is a great idea!, I'll try other foaming bath bombs.

I would apply a unique skill set to the product. I don't have a trained nose so scent won't be my strength.

I'm handy so I make my own equipment, to either

make difficult designs

or

increase efficiency to price out others. 

other niches

-goth theme

-witch, superstitious, good luck, positive energy etc

-premium hand carved

- heavy on charity. (1 soap bought = 1 soap donated/1 tree gets planted/save the bees!)

-glorify a uncommon exotic ingredient

-identity. (for LGBTQ, from a country, for people who suffer from migraines)

A few contradictions. 

On 8/20/2017 at 0:29 PM, LRcandles said:

Cant seem to get excited about candles any more.

On 8/20/2017 at 0:29 PM, LRcandles said:

.the wax and fragrances are calling my name again

On 8/20/2017 at 0:29 PM, LRcandles said:

Im not a seller...period

On 8/20/2017 at 0:29 PM, LRcandles said:

Im going to go out and sell

I'm not into sales too. I still do it though before I can hire.

Good Luck!

I added many ingredients to make a foaming bath bomb. 

1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 cup citric acid

1/4 slsa

1 teaspoon canola oil

1 teaspoon fragrance oil

1 teaspoon polysorbate 80

99% isopropyl alcohol

The bath bomb foams a lot If I toss it in the water immediately after pressed.

If the bath bomb dries in 24hrs, the bath bomb won't fizz much when in the water.

Youtubers don't have this problem, they all fizzed when slsa or polysorbate 80 is included. This seems like a unique problem.

7 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Often direct buys require the purchase of 50lbs, which, in the end, is way over priced. 

because it usually doesn't get used? I can buy 50lb of baking soda, salts, citric acid easily, it gets used up fast.  I don't use enough colors, oils, clay to buy bulk yet.

I keep a record of large suppliers. I can't buy those minimums(example. a drum of oil) yet, hopefully I push enough volume to buy those large quantities.

Saffire Blue is very overpriced. Voyageur is well priced, shipping is ok. 

Supplies are never low enough. I looked into factory directories and food companies.

iansmommaya

Good accounting always important.

Thanks TallTayl for being direct. I need to talk to more audiences. 

Thanks. I found some factories nearby but they selling food grade oils by the drum. I'll stick with food industry, maybe buy from factory with other craft people.

Ya I look into food industry for lower cost bath product ingredients.

11 minutes ago, Sponiebr said:

There are sources for inexpensive ingredients and chemicals

besides food. what other industry ingredients overlap with skincare? We have a lot less here in Canada, but the upside is, there is less competition here vs USA.

Definitely, Spending a few minutes looking into these questions can save 6 hours.

"Price is a PERCEIVED indicator of value, not a true indicator"

I said "general", I never said true. general value includes the perceived value.

36 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said:

All of which you can get, no matter how much the booth costs, just from the foot traffic, and stepping up and out of your booth to talk to people. 

Booth cost is generally positively correlated with foot traffic. Low traffic generally means less sales, less everything.

38 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said:

For me the value is not in how much a booth costs, but in the proceeds it yields.

Yes, it's about the result. Preferably good results with a lower booth cost. We have a 4k 8 day show here. Some people hit it big.

53 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said:

I just can't see paying exorbitant amounts of money for something I can get for much less money that is basically the exact same thing.   

It's basically same for you. Some high priced items only sell at large expensive shows where people are ready to drop that type of cash. Average income people won't spend buy $200+ jewelry at a school gym craft fair or church.

56 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said:

At that price it is no longer worth my time.

It is if you get the same multiple as your lower booth fee shows. Some people get it, some don't 

"Could you not move upstairs and outside with the other vendors? "

Thanks for your sympathy, I learn fast. Ill get burned less next time. Two basement people moved upstairs first. Me and another was stuck downstairs.

The organizer said "at least it's cool down here!" THANKS!

"Why would we want to booth fees to be higher?"

Price is a general indicator of value. Of course there are overpriced items and underpriced items. A low booth fee can be underpriced (what I was hoping for) ,overpriced(waste of time), or rightly priced, vendors making on average x 3 - x 7 booth fee.

Other ways to get value from a booth in addition to sales : leads, brand awareness, product feedback, PR, build social media content.

It's not just booth fee X 7 = sales    Is a great show.

5 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

Why would vendors want to bid UP the booth fee?

There are so few tables and so much traffic. A vendor who didn't get in would love to pay more to get a table. That vendor will make more money by paying more for a table vs not getting a table at all. The church could charge more too. (over $100) I guess they don't want to. $100 x 7 = $700. 7 x booth fee is commonly considered a good show. I assume most are hitting those numbers at that show.

1 hour ago, birdcharm said:

not worth it. 

 

 

 

definitely. I only mentioned the bigger points because I don't want to ramble about all the other obstacles. There are over 50 shows peryear here in Ontario, Canada. I'll go with what works.

12 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

As TT said, it's all about location, and how well it's advertised. Low booth fees don't scare me off. Lack of advertising, where it's located, and other factors is more how I determine which shows I'll do. 

Why is the booth fee so low? You make 1k-1.5k? If it's high traffic, then vendors can easily bid up the booth fee. Unless your so niche and right fit, other vendors can't get same results.

I had a funny/bad experience last weekend at a craft show I attended. I don't want to apply this to every low booth fee craft show but I'll be more careful next time.

$20 booth fee. I was skeptical of the low booth fee, but I decided to try it anyways. It was a pop-up craft market on a side street, 50 meters from a busy street. There was a Jazz festival going on that day.

I arrived. 9am. The booth was in a 600sq ft side room in a basement... At first no one knew I was down there. The organizers set their own table outside at the front of the store. They said they are telling people about my booth in the basement. Once in the basement, there are 3 rooms. One room was my booth. Other 2 were not for the public. There isn't a way knowing that. I wrote some signs with arrows to guide people to my booth.

6 Hour show, 30 people found my booth. 1 sale. $2. I could have gotten more people from my front lawn.

Originally 4 booths were sold in that 600sq ft room (medium size living room) But 2 vendors moved upstairs outside to the store front. So It was me and another vendor in that basement room.

I am attending more craft shows this year. I signed up with organizers with repeat vendors,repeat annual shows, have some social media following. I hope those do better.

What do you think of low booth fees? I was hoping for a hidden gem but It ended up being too good to be true.

Here is video on where I was. Notice a yellow balloon. The organizer said it was there to show customers my booth was in that room. Really?..

ok thanks so much

A Pottery Supply store sells Bentonite 10x cheaper than Bentonite from a beauty supply store. Is it the same thing?

lovely. consider the background too. If it's printed on a transparent sticker, then stuck on a white candle. It may be hard to read.

12 minutes ago, birdcharm said:

I think your "soy sand" would be better if you scented it, which would put you back to grinding down your wax yourself.  Just my opinion!

 

i add the sand with an essential oil and it burns well.  No flash points and aesthetic concerns for me me!

p.s I spray liquid soy through a nozzle, I don't grind it down.

ya i saw. custom scents too if a lot is ordered.